Neighbors for Racial Justice on CNBC



I was pleased to see this recent CNBC piece about the systemic issues with racism and related bigotry on Nextdoor: https://youtu.be/mvL5HKyw0zs. I was even more proud to have been able to support and connected with the group, Neighbors for Racial Justice (N4RJ), which was formed in Oakland, but now encompasses several allied groups around the Bay Area, including San Leandro with yours truly!

As we've seen here, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nextdoor's platform has become a public square where our community members, including local businesses, can connect with each other. However, as we've also seen, it has been used as a tool for racial profiling, toxicity, misinformation spread by public officials, and even illegal activity. This is going on against a backdrop of Nextdoor's attempts to rehabilitate its image and increase ad revenue in anticipation of an IPO (initial public offering) for the company that could see it become a real competitor for social media websites like Facebook.

The CNBC piece highlights all of this in greater detail, but for local examples, feel free to look through my posts from this year alone. I encourage everyone on this platform to watch the piece in its entirety and then look into N4RJ's website at https://www.neighborsforracialjustice.org/.

To give just a brief summary of what they do: "Neighbors for Racial Justice (N4RJ) is a group of Oakland, California neighbors, who for the past six years, have been committed to racial equity and justice in our neighborhoods and city. N4RJ is a multi-racial group composed mostly of white women who examine and act to address our own racism, anti-blackness, and white supremacy. We are supported by a women-led Black Advisory Council. We originally came together to respond to egregious racist profiling on listservs such as Nextdoor, and to educate folks throughout Oakland about racist profiling, which is still one of our top priorities. We are happy to support you and offer our resources in the work you’re doing to challenge racism."

I hope everyone finds this informative and engaging as we work together as a community through the current crises we're facing and the longstanding problems we've ignored.

Take note and take care.

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